Wreck-It Ralph: A New Start
by sonicking2004
Summary: I'm guessing that many of you who found this story have already seen the movie. If you haven't, a fair warning: it takes place after the conclusion, so there may be spoilers. Having thrown that out there, this takes moments from the lives of the lives of Ralph and his friends, as well as characters who had little to no exposure in the film, and sees how they've changed.
1. 1) New Member

**New Member**

_Usual disclaimer: I don't own Wreck-It Ralph or any of these characters. I'm merely a fan, this is just a Fan-Fic. Please enjoy the story._

It started out like any typical day; Ralph would wreck the building, the gamer would try to help Felix fix it. Sometimes they would even proceed far enough that they'd clear the level. That was his favorite part (even though it didn't use to be), for he could watch his favorite squirt race for a second when the Nicelanders threw him off the roof. They might even play well enough to proceed to one of the Bonus levels, which Ralph found really fun (working with Q*bert and the others really livens things up.)

As much more enjoyable his job was now, though, his favorite part would always be at the end of the day, when the arcade closed. Then the Nicelanders would return to their apartments as they always had, Q*bert and the other new guys would go to the new homes Felix and he had built for him, and Felix and his wife Calhoun would meet up. Sometimes she would come here, to Felix's apartment, and sometimes he would go to Calhoun's living quarters at Hero's Duty.

As for Ralph, there was always one place he would go, and it was the main reason he always wished the arcade might close a little sooner. Once the lights were off, he would travel through Game Central Station to Sugar Rush, where he would watch President Fart-Feathers participate in the Random Roster Race. It was still set up much the same was as it was in King Candy's, or rather Turbo's day, with it being pay-to-play. However, nowadays Venelope arranged it so that a couple slots remained open, to be filled by a random selection from those that couldn't afford to pay in. _Real genius, that one!_ Ralph thought proudly.

Of course, Felix and Calhoun would always meet him there before the race started, and they would cheer for Venelope almost as loudly as Ralph. He supposed they had grown rather as attached to the runt has he was. Perhaps they would end up adopting her. Of course, that would be just fine with Ralph, so long as they also named him her Godfather.

As Ralph boarded the tram departing from Fix-It Felix, Jr., Ralph wondered what ever happened to Penelope's real parents. Due to her being turned into a glitch by Turbo, Penelope's memory was permanently damaged, so she doesn't remember her backstory nor what had happened before King Candy (Turbo) took over. In addition, no one wanted to talk about it whenever Penelope was around, and since she always stuck to his side like taffy when he was there and she wasn't racing, well….

Today was the odd exception to his usual routine. He was still going to go to Sugar Rush to watch her race, of course. But first he had to make his way to Pac-Man's game for the weekly Bad-Anon meeting. He didn't feel he needed to go anymore, of course, as he was now more than comfortable in his role as a "bad-guy". He just liked to be there in the event any new members showed up, so he could share his story and help them the way he himself was helped.

Ralph had already clued the squirt in during one of the moments the had eye contact that day, and he supposed she would delay the race's start for until the meeting was over, as usual. _It must be nice to be President and be able to do things like that,_ Ralph mused. Of course, he supposed it was much the same way back home now, with the Nicelanders being so nice to him these days; they deferred to him almost as much as they did Felix, and they never forgot to invite him to a party (though he hated to turn many of those invites down, as they often took place during the race). Still it was nice to be needed and wanted.

He saw Surge Protector off in the distance as he crossed SGC over to Pac-Man's. Surge was talking to Ma Fratelli from the Goonies game, but he glared at Ralph the moment he caught sight of him, and Ralph groaned internally. _How many times must I apologize before he accepts that it was an accident? _Ralph thought,_ It's not like I meant to launch in an escape pod with a Cy-Bug latched onto my face, nor that I intended to pinball around GSC in said vehicle! _ Whatever the reason, Surge seemed too busy to come harass him today, which suited Ralph just fine: Ralph didn't want to have the meeting run longer and take the chance of missing Venelope's race.

As Ralph entered the Ghost House where the meeting was held, he saw that everyone else was already there. As he hurried to take his seat, Ralph apologized, "Sorry I'm late you guys." Ralph apologized.

"No, it's all right. You're on time," Clyde countered, "Actually, we're waiting for someone else to show up."

"Huh?" Ralph asked, confused. He did a quick headcount: Clyde, himself, Bison, Ivo, Zangief Smoke, Bowser, Satan, Zombie, Kano, Neff, Mishaela, Beholder, Saw-hand. Yep, they were all there. "I don't understand," Ralph admitted.

"We have a couple of new members showing up today," Clyde clarified, "They were probably delayed by the arcade's Wi-Fi bandwidth."

Ralph suppressed another groan. He liked helping the newcomers, he really did. However, most of the "new members" who showed up these days, especially those who came from outside the arcade, didn't show up because they wanted help or intended to attend the meetings. They came to gawk at _him_: the bad guy who intentionally did something heroic, not accidentally or because it suited his own ends, like he'd heard Bowser had in a couple of RPGs he'd been in.

"So who is it?" Ralph asked.

"Not sure, actually," Clyde admitted, "I asked him, but he started complaining; acting like I should already know who he is, and how things were much better and simpler in his day, etc."

_Great,_ Ralph grumbled to himself,_ at least one of our "new members" is an old-timer, perhaps from a game even older than mine. Probably would spend most of his time complaining about me and my "outlandish" behavior too._

Ralph was about to suggest that they wait for only a couple more minutes before beginning the meeting when he heard a grizzled old voice from the maze complaining, "I told you before, Junior, I can push my own wheelchair!" Ralph then heard what sounded like an ape grunting and howling, which sounded oddly familiar to him, before the crotchety voice retorted, "I know you just want to help, sonny, but I can take care of myself. Young whipper-snapper, why in my day…"

Before Ralph could find a reason to excuse himself or to ask anyone else if they recognized the voices, the speakers came around the door and Ralph's jaw nearly hit the floor: Pushing a wheelchair (in which sat possibly the oldest ape Ralph had ever seen) was Donkey Kong! _The_ Donkey Kong, the _original_ bad guy! Sure, Clyde was older by a year, but it was with the coming of Donkey Kong that players started referring to them as "Bad Guys", rather than merely enemies. As Ralph looked around, he saw that the others were just as stunned as he was.

Before he could come up with something to say, the next person who entered the door caused Ralph's jaw to drop further: it was _Mario!_ Now he could understand why DK was there, and the old ape was a bit of a mystery, though a minor one. But what on earth was Mario, the original_ good guy_ doing here in Bad-Anon?!

Mario, looking very uncomfortable and sheepish, said, "Hello, a-everyone. Hey there, Bowsie."

Bowser, startled by this unexpected entrance and greeting, belched fire in what was only the second spit-take Ralph had seen from the Koopa, not that Ralph could blame him.

Finally finding his voice, Ralph asked, "Mario? What are you dong here at Bad-Anon? And Donkey Kong, we're all honored you can join us here today after all these years, but who's the old ape you brought with you?"

" 'Old ape'?" The elder ape exclaimed, outraged, " 'Old ape'?! _I'm_ Donkey Kong, you young hooligan!"

Ralph, stunned and confused again, found himself speechless for a moment before he managed to stammer out, "But….but I thought….isn't this…?"

The elderly ape muttered for a moment before saying, "Young whipper snapper, this here is my grandson, Donkey Kong the Third, although he simply calls himself Donkey Kong or DK, thanks to those lazy game developers. They spend all that time and money making those fancy-schmancy CG graphics, but can't be bothered to call us by our given names? Why, back in the day, I had three frames of animation and I liked it!"

Zangief, catching on, said, "Wait, this is Junior's boy?"

"That's right, you muscle-bound ox!" The elder Kong grumped, "You know, you'd think a character with my history and stature would be given a little more respect! I was in three different games. Three! And that's not including the various home console remakes and spin-offs. But when they decided that they needed a new Donkey Kong game for their new system, do they ask me to star in it? No! They make my grandson an adult, give him my name, and rename me Cranky Kong! Do I look 'cranky' to you?!"

Wisely, no one provokes him further by answering honestly, although Zombie starts to before Kano shushes him.

Trying to diffuse the situation, Ralph said, "I'm sorry….um, did you want me to call you Donkey Kong, or…."

As Ralph trailed off, Cranky Kong grunts and grumps, "Eh, just go ahead and call me Cranky Kong. Everyone else does."

Ralph hardly thought that would calm down the elder, and he'd like to get through the topics of today's meeting quickly, so Ralph offered, "How about I call you Mr. Kong and your grandson DK?"

" 'Mr. Kong'?" Cranky Kong said thoughtfully, his expression brightening, "Hmm, 'Mr. Kong'. Yes, I think I like the sound of that! Very well then, Mr. Kong it is!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ralph continued, "Mr. Kong, I'd like to say what an honor it is to have you here today, and that I meant no disrespect by my unintentional comments earlier."

Cranky Kong chuckled wheezily as he said, "Don't worry about it, young pup. Anyway, I didn't exactly come here today to attend as a member."

_Oh, boy,_ Ralph groaned internally, _here it comes._

Cranky then continued, "I actually came to show support for my old rival here."

"Huh?" Ralph said, caught off guard, "Come again?"

Cranky, who wasn't paying attention, had turned to Mario in the back of the room and says, "It's okay, old pal. Everyone who's attending is here to support you, and if anyone dares to make fun of or belittle you, then I'll be sure to beat some manners into them!" Cranky adds, waving his cane menacingly.

Mario, who walked forward to take one of the two new open seats beside Ralph, said, "Hello everyone. It's a me, Mario. Oh, I a suppose you all know that already. I'm a here today because….because…" Mario bit his trembling lip for a second before sobbing, "…I'm a bad guy!"

Everyone, including Ralph, stared at Mario in shock. Everyone, that is, except for Bowser, who stood up and crowed, "Ha! I knew it! I knew it!"

Everyone except Mario, who was still sobbing, then turned to glare at Bowser, including Cranky Kong, who had rolled his chair forward to whack Bowser in the head with his cane.

As Bowser rubbed his head and protested, "Hey!" Clyde asked scoldingly, "Bowser, what is the number 1 rule of Bad-Anon?"

Bowser sighed and recited dully, " 'Whenever someone shares their stories or tells us about something they're upset or feel shameful about, we at Bad-Anon do not make fun of them, nor do or say anything that could make it harder for them to share. We show them the same compassion and respect we fellow bad guys would want for ourselves."

"It's okay," Mario sniffed, wiping his eyes, "I understand what you must be thinking Bowser. But what I'm a talkin' about is from before your time, back towards the beginning of my career."

"But," Ralph asked, confused, "I thought that in the beginning you were a hero then too."

"You're a mostly right, Ralph," Mario confirmed, "In my first game I was a hero. Of course, back a then I didn't even have a real name: I was just a called Jumpman. I mean, what a kind of name is a Jumpman? Still, everyone loved our game, everyone a loved me, and I felt a warm glow whenever I actually managed to save the girl and heard the laughter of the players when Donkey Kong fell down and hit his head."

"Hey," protested Cranky, "Those falls hurt, you know!"

"I know, old pal," Mario said ruefully, "I know. Anyway, when I'd heard that they were making a sequel starring us, and that I'd finally get a real name, I couldn't wait to jump at the chance! I thought there would be newer floor types, more variety of enemies for me to beat….it turned out to be nothing that I expected. Donkey Kong wasn't the bad guy this time, he was the _victim!_" Mario's eyes stream with tears again as he continues, "He was _my_ victim! I finally had a real name, Mario, and it was the name of a bad guy! It was _my_ name players said in anger and disgust. It was _me_ that the players laughed at when I fell down after being defeated. I went from the most loved character to the most hated! I was so devastated that I couldn't even respond when I was contacted about doing Donkey Kong 3, so they gave the hero part to someone else. Eventually I started doing other things: playing golf, referee a fight. My happiest moment was when I found my brother Luigi. We started doing all kinds of games together: Demolishing buildings, clearing out sewers, even traveling to a magical kingdom!" Mario looked up at Bowser as he said, "That's where we first met you, remember?"

Bowser grumbled, "I remember."

Mario nodded, as if nothing was amiss, as he continued, "Everything was going so well, I almost forgot the pain my second game gave me. And then they had to bring those games into the homes as well. Of course, the remake of Donkey Kong had me being called Mario now, but that seemed to make it hurt worse. Of course, I knew that I couldn't just pull out and leave everyone hanging; I had too many fans counting on me now. But every time I had to be in Donkey Kong Junior again, I was so afraid that they would get so disgusted with me that they'd never want to play another game with me in it again."

Looking up at Ralph, Mario said, "That's why I am so often late to the different parties I'm invited to, why I didn't even make it to your 30th anniversary celebration until after it was already over. It's not because I'm to be cool or anything, it's just because I feel like such a fraud when I go. I'm afraid that someone there will see the bad guy deep inside of me and won't want me around anymore."

As Mario sniffed and fell into silence, smiled and thought fondly, _And this is why I continue to attend Bad-Anon._ Placing a comforting hand on Mario's shoulder, Ralph said, "Believe me Mario, I know just how you feel. I might not have started as a hero, the way you did, but I've been a bad guy in my game for the last 30 years, and during all that time I had no friends of my own. I had to live in the most miserable existence imaginable. The final straw came when I was not even invited to the anniversary party of my own game. I decided then that I was tired of living alone, so I would prove that I can be a good guy too, so the others would finally accept me and let me live with them. Of course, that nearly ended up a disaster. However, it was through the course of that misadventure that I met Venelope, a spunky little racer who accepted me for me. Because of what I learned, I finally was able to show everyone that I'm more than what role I play in my game. I could show them who I really am inside, and it turns out that they liked that person after all. And I know that you are really a hero deep inside. It's possible that you wouldn't even be half the hero you are today if it weren't for the time you had spent as a bad guy."

Mario wiped his eyes once more, then said, "Thanks, Ralph. You know, you may never have been a 'good guy', but I can tell that deep down you are a good guy. And who knows, maybe one day, you will get a sequel or a spin-off of your own, one in which you are the hero."

Ralph chuckled at the mental image, saying, "Yeah, that'll be the day! Of course, even it did happen, it wouldn't change a thing. Hero or bad guy, there's no one I'd rather be than me, and Venelope wouldn't want it to be any other way."

"Very good, Ralph," Clyde said proudly, "I couldn't have put it any better myself."

After that, the meeting went much like the others Ralph had attended before: they all shared new storied and updates, then closed out with the Bad-Guy Affirmation, with Mario and Cranky Kong joining in. Afterward, as Ralph rode the tram back towards GSC so that he can continue on to Sugar Rush, Ralph smiled as he imagined meeting Venelope at the finish line with the great new story he'd have to share with her today.

End of chapter


	2. 2) New Tricks

**New Tricks**

Felix had met his wife Calhoun at her quarters in Hero's Duty, where she'd changed out of her uniform and was now wearing a full length red dress. Since Ralph had his Bad-Anon meeting today and they'd have a bit longer before they'd have to meet at Sugar Rush, Calhoun had suggested that they go eat out today at a café in the China stage of Street Fighter II.

Ever since that day Ralph had gone game-jumping, it seems that every day has been brighter than even the first day that their game had been plugged in. Part of that, he supposed was due to that he has such a dynamite gal waiting for him at the end of each day. In addition, everyone in his own game is even more friendly to one another, especially in regards to Ralph. Of course, he'd always tried to be friendly to Ralph himself. That was just in his programming. But he never knew that Ralph was such a nice guy inside, or that the unfriendly attitude the Nicelanders held towards him was making him feel lonely. Not until the day Ralph had sought out a medal to show everyone that he was as much of a good guy as Felix. One Out-Of-Order sign and two Cy-Bug infested nightmares later, everyone now knows that even though Ralph is the game's 'Bad Guy', Ralph is actually a good guy deep down inside.

When they arrive at the café, they have a seat and Calhoun orders something from the menu for both of them. As the hostess leaves Calhoun says to Felix, "So I've been thinking: Your game's been around for a while, and while it's still as popular as ever, I imagine that it's getting increasingly difficult to get replacement parts for its cabinet. If something were to break on it, and Mr. Litwak is unable to fix it, then your game would be placed Out-of-Order and get unplugged for good. Because of that, I've been having my men create quarters for you behind our lines. And the other Nicelanders, of course."

"That's very sweet of you dear," Felix said, "but while I'd be more than happy to accept your quarters should we ever get unplugged, I think that the Nicelanders would feel more comfortable someplace like Sugar Rush, where they don't have to worry about possibly getting eaten and facing permanent Game Over."

"Oh, right," Calhoun said, embarrassed, "of course."

"It was a nice thought, though," Felix reassured her as he kissed her on the cheek, "So how was work today?"

"It was fine," Calhoun said, "We had a couple of first-person shooters almost make it to the top of the tower today, although one of them had used several continues to get that far. How about you?"

"It was really good," Felix answered, "Q*Bert and the other new guys are really settling in, Ralph and the Nicelanders are really getting along. The only thing that kept it from being perfect was that neither you nor Vanellope were there."

"She's a sweet kid," Calhoun agreed, "Still can't leave her game, huh?"

Felix shook his head, "The barrier still won't let her pass because it registers her as a glitch. She says that she elected to retain her glitch powers because it is the 'coolest superpower ever', but I think it's more than that. I think that more than her memory was damaged by Turbo's amateurish hacking, and even though the game had restored the others' memory of her and was even able to give back her princess dress, it wasn't able to fully restore her."

"Hmm," Calhoun considered what Felix mentioned. As she gently rocked the wobbly table back and forth, she glanced at Felix's hammer on his belt, then said, "I just had a thought: whenever I've seen you use your hammer, I've only seen you hit things with the flat end."

Taking his hammer from his belt and looking at it, Felix asked, "I don't understand, wow else would I use it?"

"Well, how about trying the claw end on the other side?" Calhoun suggested, "Maybe you could try it on this table."

It sounded like a strange idea, but he decided to humor her. Flipping the hammer around, he hit the table with the claw side. As soon as the claw made contact with the table, it instantly disappeared and reappeared in the same nanosecond, only now it was in pieces.

"Oh no!" Felix exclaimed, "I wrecked it!"

Looking carefully at the table parts, Calhoun corrected, "It's not wrecked, more like it's been taken apart."

Felix, confused, said, "I don't understand: this hammer belonged to my father, and he was a Fixer like me. Why would his hammer have the ability to take thing apart?"

"Well, sometimes that's the only way to fix things properly." Calhoun explained.

"Huh?" Felix asked.

Calhoun continued her explanation, "Well, sometimes things are put together improperly in the first place, either by a mistake or by an unwise addition. If it got broken, very likely due to that imperfection, then it was fixed, then that imperfection would remain and it'd likely get broken again the same way because of it. The only way to fix something like that is to take it apart so it can be put back together properly."

"Really?" Felix said.

"Just take a look at me," Calhoun stated, "I was programmed to be an excellent soldier and a fearless leader. However, I was also programmed with that tragic backstory. You could think of that as being my imperfection. I led my men, but I didn't count on anyone, not even you when you offered to help me find Ralph and the Cy-Bug. And when you paid me that compliment, I panicked and completely freaked out. Me, the fearless soldier, freaking out by a simple compliment. All due to that imperfection caused by my backstory I was given during my creation. But you got me to lower my guard and open my heart, essentially taking me apart and removing my imperfection so I can be put together better than I was before."

As she gestured back to the table, Felix took the hint and used the head of the hammer on the table, which caused it to reappear fully assembled. Calhoun placed a gentle pressure on her end and demonstrated that it didn't rock. "See, no wobble," Calhoun pointed out, smiling, "Sometimes to fix something, you must first take it apart."

As Felix looked at his hammer in a new light, he smiled at Calhoun in appreciation. Then, just as they lean in to kiss, the timer on Calhoun's time piece went off. "Jiminy Cricket!" Calhoun exclaimed, "Ralph's meeting should be over by now! That means that Vanellope's race will be starting any minute!" Looking at the hostess, Calhoun said, "We'll take those orders to go!" They then hastily grabbed their bagged dinners and hurried over to the tram to Game Central Station and Sugar Rush.

End of chapter


	3. 3) New Home

**New Home**

_This is, without a doubt, my least favorite part of the day!_ Vanellope thought to herself. Not the Random Roster Race, of course; that was fun, as is the time afterwards when she can just hang out with Ralph, Felix and Calhoun. No, the part she disliked the most was the waiting, the time in between when the arcade closed and when the race starts. Of course, she could always decide to just start it right away, but she just couldn't do so without her friends there, it just wouldn't be as much fun.

Of course, this waiting would be a lot more tolerable if she could just get out of here in the meantime, but that jerk Turbo fixed that. When he invaded her game, he took her place (and her cart, that jerkface!) and tried to delete her code. Even though he wasn't able to completely erase her, his efforts to do so had damaged her memory and turned her into a glitch.

Of course, when she won that Random Roster Race with the kart that Ralph helped her build, the game's reset was supposed to restore the proper code of everything that originated within it. However, even though it did restore her code as a princess and a racer, apparently the damage Turbo had done to her memory and her glitchiness was beyond the capability of a mere reset.

As she wasn't the kind of person who wanted other feeling sorry for her, she played up that she was keeping her glitch powers of her own free will. Of course, while she did like the abilities that her glitch status afforded her, the fact that the barrier still wouldn't let her through kind of stunk.

To cover up the fact that she couldn't leave, when she was asked to be Calhoun's maid of honor, she had their church built here. You couldn't even tell that it was made of candy (of course, the furnishings brought in from outside helped). Later, she'd divert their attention in various ways: giving them a full tour of her castle (that took about 3 weeks), having them help repair her kart, asking about their days, and so on.

The worst part of the situation she was stuck in was that it was so lonely and boring! She had went from living alone in Cola Mountain to living practically alone in a castle! Sure she had servants that worked there (who still refused to not call her "princess" or "you're highness"), but it just wasn't the same as living near friends and family, and Sour Bill was not good company at all! Furthermore, the main reason she'd instituted the position of president was that she'd hoped that someone would take her place in this castle and that she'd be able to move into the village and be surrounded by other people. The problem was that no one wanted to vote her out of office! What's a girl have to do, act like a tyrant like King Candy?

Oh well, maybe one day Mr. Litwak won't be able to repair the damage that the players cause to Felix's game and would place it out of order for good. Not that she really wanted something bad like that to happen: after all, Ralph has an important job to do there, and he's finally enjoying it! However, she knows as well as anyone just how old that game is, and she imagines that certain parts are getting hard to find for it, and if the game ever got unplugged, then she could invite the displaced Nicelanders, including Ralph and Felix, to come and live with her in the castle instead.

Vanellope sighed. It'd probably be easier and much more satisfying if she could figure out her glitch problem instead. She was tired of being on the outside, looking in. She didn't just want to invite others into her home, she wanted to go out and visit theirs. She wanted to go and visit the Mushroom Kingdom and to see an alien world up close. She wanted to see the place where Ralph and Felix lived. She wanted to live with a real family, darn it!

As she was deep in thought, Sour Bill came in and announced dully, "Your Highn….I mean Madame President, an incoming tram from Game Central Station has been reported."

_About time!_ Vanellope thought excitedly. Out loud, she said, "Get the word out to the others that the Random Roster Race will soon commence!"

"As you wish," Sour Bill replied as he left.

As Vanellope hurried down to where she kept the kart she now used frequently, she thought of how this day was about to get so much better.

* * *

Elsewhere, deep within the game's code, some random bits and bytes leaked out of the CPU's Recycle Bin. These pieces of code grouped together in an amorphous blob that at first had no set appearance but appeared to be a sickly red in color. However, as more and more was pulled from the bin, a face became apparent: an evil looking face wearing a crown.

End of chapter


	4. 4) The Race

**The Race**

As Vanellope maneuvered into position, she felt a familiar excitement that always preceded these races. She always made sure to use the cart she and Ralph had built together as it was her favorite. It may not be as 'pretty' or as fancy as the carts that some of the others like Candlehead or Taffyta use, but it had a real sense of character, plus it was the first time she and Ralph had bonded. Of course it might be easier to build a new cart than to keep asking Felix to fix it, but she couldn't see parting with it or racing in something else, even if she had any possibility of recovering her original cart from inside the Cy-Bug that wound up merging with King Candy (a.k.a. Turbo).

Looking in the stands, it didn't take long to locate her favorite Stinkbrain: even seated, he practically towered over everyone there. He was shortly joined by Felix and Calhoun, who quickly took the seats Ralph had saved for them. Vanellope couldn't hear what they were saying from so far away, but she could see that Felix was gesturing excitedly to his hammer and to Calhoun. Her curiosity now piqued, she'd make it a point to ask them what they were talking about later, but Vanellope had kept the crowd waiting long enough.

Signaling for Sour Bill to bring her the microphone, Vanellope took it and said, "Thank you all for coming today, and for your patience in waiting for the start of today's Random Roster Race! I'd like to welcome all of our returning racers as well as our newcomers Cordial Charlie, Pete Nutbrittle, Pixie Stickra, and Pamelapop Roxanne!"

Everyone sheers at this announcement, and Vanellope had to smile at the brilliance of the idea of allowing 4 racers who've not been able to afford the pay-in to be chosen by random drawing for these races. People got bored watching the same racers every day, but with newcomers you got unexpected variety and spice. Besides, she knew what it was like being on the outside looking in, thanks to that Turbo creep campaigning against her entering just so he could maintain his control over Sugar Rush!

"And now, without further ado, let the Random Roster Race commence!" Vanellope announced as she tosses the microphone to Sour Bill, who hurries off the track as the lights change from red to green and the karts surge forward together as one.

* * *

As the racers took off and everyone directed their attention to the screens of the cameras, following the race, Felix continued his explanation to Ralph, "So even though I'll be using my hammer the way I always have during the game, it's still handy to know that my hammer can take things apart too. I just wish I'd known about that when I was trapped in King Candy's Fungeon! I just find it embarrassing to think that I had the means to escape with me all along! "

Ralph, who had been following Vanellope's progress in the race, asked concernedly, "What do you mean? You didn't want to help Vanellope?"

"Huh?" Felix said in confusion, then he backtracked and said in correction, "No, that's not what I meant! Of course I would've helped her! I just find it embarrassing that I was stuck down there when I could have gotten out at any time!"

"I understand, honey, but Ralph does have a point:" Calhoun pointed out, "If you'd escaped on your own, then Ralph would not have found you to tell you that she needed your help. That means that she would not likely have entered the race in time to catch up, if she could've entered at all. That could have led to someone else besides King Candy being eaten by the Cy-Bug, he would have likely been the one to lead the evacuation of Sugar Rush, and we may well have lost Vanellope entirely; either to the swarm of Cy-Bugs, or to the game's plug being pulled."

"Jiminy Jaminy, I never thought of that!" Felix said in surprise.

"As I said, it's okay," Calhoun said, "Everything happens a certain way for a reason. If you had realized your hammer's full potential back then, things would have happened very differently back then. You might have saved yourself some embarrassment short term, but we might not have gotten together, had that beautiful wedding…"

As Felix and Calhoun gazed into each other's eyes, Ralph said, "Guys, hate to interrupt this mush-fest, but you're missing Vanellope's race."

"Right, of course!" Calhoun said quickly as she and Felix fix their gaze on the display screen, both blushing furiously.

* * *

Vanellope was on a roll! She was passing racers left and right without even breaking a sweat, and she was doing so while keeping the promise she'd made to herself about not using her glitch powers to win here! Of course, she would have no problems winning if she did, but that was the point: it'd be too easy! The fact that she had this ability when no one else did gave her an unfair advantage. If the player activated her glitch, then so be it, but she would not use it to rob someone of the chance to be on the next day's random roster!

As she came up on Rancis Fluggerbutter, she was prepared to use his slipstream to slingshot around him when he juked to the left and slowed down unexpectedly, which allowed her to pass easily. Vanellope at first though he might have misjudged when she was going to go around him, but then she saw from the corner of her eye that he smiled and winked at her as she passed.

_Did Rancis just….throw the race for me….**again!?**_ Vanellope furiously thought to herself,_ I understand that he may still be feeling grateful to me for having helped him build the RV1 cart for him, but this is getting ridiculous! When this is over, I'm going to have a serious talk with him!_

Putting Rancis and his inexplicable behavior out of her mind for the moment, she raced on, closing on the final stretch and the last two racers ahead of her.

* * *

As the lead racers approached the finish line, the crowd's excitement ramped up, as did that of Ralph, Felix and Calhoun. The announcer states, "Vanellope passes Candlehead, leaving her and Taffyta to fight for the top spot! It's neck and neck folks!"

Calhoun is distracted by a beeping coming from within her purse. Digging out the offending device, she saw it was the Cy-Bug tracker that she went everywhere with these days. But why would it be going off here now?

Calhoun barely heard the announcer as he said, "And it's Vanellope by a nose! Vanellope has taken first place in the Random Roster Race!"

As Vanellope skidded to a stop, the ground bust in front of her, upending her kart and rendering her unconscious. Calhoun could not believe what she was seeing: that monstrosity of a fusion between King Candy and the Cy-Bug was still alive! As she watched it quickly scurry out of the hole, Turbo-Bug grabbed Vanellope and tossed her kart to the side as he said, "That makes you the lucky winner!" Then, with an evil chuckle, Turbo-Bug scurried back to the hole in the road as everyone else panicked.

_No! Not again!_ Calhoun's mind reeled,_ This can't happen **again!**_ She reached into her purse and pulled out her sidearm. As she aimed at Turbo-Bug, Ralph placed his extra-large hand in her way, yelling, "Don't! You might hit Vanellope!"

She'd started to point out that she wouldn't miss, but then realized that Ralph was right! While she was a superior marksman, this wasn't her average Cy-Bug: it was fused with a conniving sprite who had no honor and a huge grudge against Vanellope! He wouldn't hesitate to use her as a shield to save his own skin!

Leaping down from the stands, she rushed over to where Turbo-Bug was escaping. However, as fast as she was, Turbo-Bug was faster, and before she could get within the point-blank range she was aiming for the monstrosity had disappeared down the hole in the track. As she screamed in rage and heart-sick pain, she barely heard Rancis (who had arrived mere moments ago) cry out "Vanellope!"

As Felix and Ralph joined her at her side, Felix asked helplessly, "What do we do?"

Checking her tracker again (which she'd specially modified to deal with the sugary nature of this place), Calhoun said to her husband and his best friend, "You guys direct the remaining racers around this hole. We don't want anyone else to accidentally fall down there. I'll be back in five minutes, then we'll be going after her!"

As she mentally plotted a path to where she'd hidden a cache of weapons and an extra armor suit, she thought about the pain those bugs had already inflicted upon her. They took her first fiancée, which led to her hardening her heart and nearly missing her second chance to be happy again! There was no way she was going to let them take Vanellope away from her too! She was going to grab as much firepower as she could get, then she was going to find that Turbo and make him rue the day he ever decided to go game-hopping!

* * *

As Vanellope woke up, the first thing she noticed was how much her head hurt! She had a hard time getting her eyes to focus right, not that there was much she could focus on, it was so dark. The last thing she remembered was that something had come out of the ground in front of her, then her kart had got flipped over and she hit her head.

"Where…?" Vanellope mumbled through her strangely dry mouth, "…where am I?"

"Why, you're home, my dear!" A voice answered her.

That voice! It couldn't be! Forcing her eyes to focus in the dim light, she saw that she was in a cage, and that a pair of chains were connected from the bottom of said cage to a familiar collar around her neck! And beyond the bars of the cage was…

"King Candy!?" Vanellope exclaimed, "But how!? You were…"

"…vaporized by that hot cola eruption set off by your muscle-bound brute?" King Candy finished for her, "Don't you know, dear? Any sprite can regenerate themselves, as long as they're within their own game when they die."

"But this isn't your game!" Vanellope protested.

"But it is!" King Candy protested, "It had been ever since I altered the code and programmed myself into it. Of course, it took me longer than normal to regenerate, due to the extra data caused by my being melded to a Cy-Bug, but I was well on by way to becoming whole again when you rolled across the finish line and reset the game code, undoing all my hard work and removing me from the system. Still, enough of me was regenerated enough for me to pull myself together bit by bit. It was a long, painful process; long enough for me to plan my revenge in intricate detail. You should have left this place in my hands: the people were happy, and they were better off than they'll be now."

"What do you mean?" Vanellope asked, transfixed with horror.

"While the collar you're wearing prevents you from glitching your way out of here, that cage does that and more: it prevents all methods of transporting through it, including being selected by the player for a race. Now tell me, dear: What do you suppose would happen if you were selected as a racer, but you did not appear for the race?"

Vanellope's heart sank as she saw the depths of Candy's plan, "The player would think the game was broken…"

"…and Mr. Litwak would pull the plug, yes!" Candy confirmed, "Now, even if you were not stuck on that cage, your being a glitch would prevent you from leaving this game." Candy started rolling an orb of light across his knuckles as he said, "Ah, if you only had this back!"

"Is…" Vanellope stammered, "…is that…?"

"…the rest of your code," Candy answered, "the part that contains your memories of before I became King Candy. Without it, you'll always be an amnesiac glitch. Now I'm sure that your friends could save themselves before the plug is pulled, but I don't suppose that they'd be very good friends then. I imagine they'll continue looking for you even while the game world disappears around them: 4 birds, one stone."

Vanellope was in shock. She'd known ever since she could remember that King Candy was a real jerk, but she'd never imagined that he could be so….evil!

"Well I'd love to stay and continue my villainous monologue, but I'm sure that Amazonian friend of yours is tracking my whereabouts, and I don't intend to make it easy for her or the others to find you her, so I'll be going now!" Candy cackled as he skittered down one of the tunnels and out of sight. "Have fun dying!" his cackling voice echoed back up to her.

End of chapter


	5. 5) The Search

**The Search**

Calhoun had reached her cache of weaponry, exchanged her dress for a suit, and loaded up with as many weapons and she could reasonably carry. As she turned around back to the others she heard a noise behind her. Quickly cocking one of her weapons, she spun around and found Rancis behind her with a load of weapons in his own arms. "What are you doing? Those weapons are not toys, put them down!"

"You're going to rescue Vanellope, I'm going with you!" Rancis said.

"Oh no you are not! This isn't some game, you are only going to get yourself hurt." Calhoun said.

"Vanellope is my friend, and you can't stop me from looking for her. You may not be aware this, being a soldier," Rancis said, "but friends help each other out. Haven't you ever had someone that you do anything to protect?"

As he said this, Calhoun series of images flood her mind: the day the Cy–Bug killed her fiancée, the time that she and Felix faced the Cy-Bugs together when they were threatening Sugar Rush with destruction, the day that she and Felix got married, and when Vanellope got kidnapped by Turbo–Bug.

Snapping out of her reminiscence, Calhoun reached down and took the weapons out of boy's hands. Putting the weapons back where they were, she turned back the direction where she had come from. With her back turned to the boy, Calhoun said, "If you're coming you better keep up. Fall behind, you get left behind." Calhoun then started back to the track.

Rancis then smiled and turned towards the Oreo guard as he said, "Oreo, your spear!"

Calhoun groaned in exasperation and continued walking back towards the track, Rancis marching proudly behind her with spear in hand.

* * *

When Calhoun came back into view, Felix had expected her to be dressed for war. What he had not expected was the peanut butter cup hatted boy marching along behind like a junior lieutenant. When Felix opened his mouth to speak, Calhoun raised her hand and said, "This is Rancis. He's coming with us to search for Vanellope."

"I don't know," Felix said uncertainly, "won't it be a little dangerous for him?"

"You try stopping him, he's determined to find and save her," Calhoun countered, "kind of like a certain handyman who ignored a certain soldier's orders to not follow her into dangerous territory?"

Felix, catching on to what Calhoun was saying, simply smiled and said nothing more about it.

"Well let's stop wasting time talking about it and get it done!" Ralph said.

The others nodded and as one they step into the hole.

* * *

After having Ralph dig a new tunnel to the surface using his impressive strength, Calhoun asked Felix to repair the hole in the track behind them. "The arcade will be opening in less than two hours. We have until then to find and rescue Vanellope. After, we are on borrowed time. If someone chooses Vanellope as a racer, then it is as good as game over for all of us."

"You mean to say Mr. Litwak will mark this game out of order?" Ralph asked.

"I think that's what Turbo was after all along," Calhoun answered, "it's his revenge for losing his kingdom to Vanellope."

"Why that little…" Ralph rushed over and punched a wall in his frustration, causing a small avalanche of pebbles on everyone's heads.

"Easy there tiger," Calhoun said soothingly, "save some for Turbo!"

"Don't you worry, there's plenty left over for Turbo!" Ralph said with a growl.

"All the same, I'd rather not be buried in a cave-in before we even get to our girl," Calhoun stated.

"Right," Ralph said apologetically, "sorry."

"Right then," Calhoun began, as she traced a path on the tracker, "Turbo went north down this one tunnel here, Then went Southeast down this other tunnel here. I think if we traveled along this easterly tunnel, we may be able to cut Turbo off and get Vanellope back in time."

"Why did he go down the northern tunnel?" Rancis asked.

"The coward is probably just trying to throw us off his trail," Calhoun said.

"Or he's laying for us a false trail," Ralph suggested, "Turbo has to be smart enough to realize that we are tracking him. If his objective is to keep us from rescuing Vanellope until it's too late, then the best way to that is to stash her someplace and lead us on a wild goose chase."

"We don't have time to check both," Calhoun warned, "and if we check the wrong thing, then we're playing right into Turbo's hands."

"We might have time if we split up," Ralph suggested, "You guys have the firepower to deal with Turbo so you take the easterly tunnel. If he has Vanellope locked up, however, then I have the strength to destroy her locks, so I will follow the northern path."

"Very well then," Calhoun agreed, "you take the kid with you, Felix goes with me."

"What!?" Ralph objected, "but..."

"By your reasoning the northern tunnel will be least dangerous, and I don't want to lead the kid into a firefight," Calhoun reasoned.

"What about Felix?" Ralph asked.

"He can take care of himself, and I'd rather not let him out of my sight," Calhoun said.

Ralph sighed. He was pretty sure that he was correct, though Calhoun was right that they should not be putting all the eggs into one basket. The most obvious solution is to split up, and truth was he did not want the kid anywhere near Turbo either.

"Fine then," Ralph agreed, "The half pint and I will look for Vanellope the in the north, while unit Felix cut off Turbo in the East."

"Will you guys stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" Rancis grumped, "And my name is Rancis."

"Fine fine," Ralph conceded, "Rancis, you and I will check to see if Vanellope had gotten locked up by Turbo this way while Calhoun and Felix cut Turbo off in the east in case he still has Vanellope still with him."

"Okay, fine. I guess I'll go with you." Rancis reluctantly agreed.

"Then it's decided," Calhoun stated as she tossed Ralph a communicator, "if you should happen to find Vanellope, then click the signal button and we will do the same if we do. Good luck everyone." Then Ralph and Rancis headed down one tunnel while Calhoun and Felix took the other.

* * *

Back At Litwak's arcade, Taffeta, Pamelapop, Snowanna, Crumbelina, Minty Zaki, Adorabeezle are all in position for the character select screen together with Pixie Stickra and Pete Nutbrittle, who are holding cutouts of Vanellope and Rancis respectively.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Crumbelina worried.

"All we need to do is buy them time," Taffeta explained, "As long as no one chooses either Vanellope or Rancis Before Ralph and the others can help Rancis rescue her, then everything should be fine."

"And if someone does choose them?" Pete asked, "If they're not able to make it back in time?"

"Then it is game over for Sugar Rush," Zaki said fearfully.

* * *

"Do you think those two be all right?" Felix asked his wife.

Looking at the map on her tracking device, Calhoun replied, "I'm sure they will be fine, According to these readings Turbo is nowhere near them. They should have no problems rescuing Vanellope and getting her to the races on time."

"You mean that Ralph was right?" Felix asked, "Then why aren't we back there?"

"Because it's only a strong possibility that Ralph is right, not a certainty," Calhoun explained "and even if he was correct, once Turbo realizes that we had not fallen for his trick, he would certainly head back that way. We need to go after Turbo as if we had not gotten wise to him. If Vanellope is not with him, then we need to hold him off and give Ralph and Rancis time they need to locate and free her. Besides I owe that bug a splattering!"

"If you don't mind my asking," Felix said Hesitantly, "Why am I here? I'm not exactly a fighter, so I'm not sure what use I'd be against Turbo."

"Don't sell yourself short, honey. If nothing else, at least you're another pair of eyes." Calhoun explained, "I wouldn't put it past that creep to perform a sneak attack in the back. Also, it turns out to be a trap, then I'm sure your hammer would be useful to get us out."

"Oh, you mean..." Felix began.

Calhoun quickly reached back to put her hand over Felix's mouth. Raising a finger to her lips, Calhoun then reached back to unholster her plasma rifle. Gesturing that Felix should follow her, she counted down from three on her fingers, then Calhoun charged around the Rocky corner and aimed her plasma rifle into Turbo–Bug's face.

"Freeze!" Calhoun yelled.

Raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, Turbo-Bug said lightly, "You got me!"

"Can the sarcasm!" Calhoun snarled, pushing the barrel of the plasma rifle closer to Turbo's face, "Where. Is. Vanellope!?"

* * *

"So tell me kid, why are you really here?" Ralph asked, "why did you insist to come to help Vanellope?"

" I–I–I already told you," Rancis stammered, "Vanellope is my friend! I don't want anything bad to happen to her!"

"Uh-Huh," Ralph said disbelievingly, "you and the other kids were sure being friendly with that remodel you were doing on the Lickety-Split!"

"But that was back when we thought she was just a dangerous glitch!" Rancis Protested, "Things are different now!"

"You mean since you realized she was a princess?" Ralph guessed.

"What? No!" Rancis protested again, "Things are different since she helped me."

Ralph raised eyebrow in intrigued interest, Then gestured for Rancis to continue. Rancis explained, "You see I never won a Sugar Rush Cup, So Taffeta and the others would make fun of me. So one time after I'd suffered a bad bit of teasing After Vanellope had recovered her position and we recovered our memories, I went and sold all my possessions so I could go to the cart bakery and get the best kart I could possibly buy! That thing was beautiful, but unfortunately it was not very sturdy. I accidentally crashed it and it fell all to pieces! I was devastated! When Vanellope drove up and asked what was wrong, I explain to her how I went broke trying to build this kart and now cannot get a new one, she help me to build a new one using a slice of cake from the Stale Cake Depot and other candy parts. I named this new kart the RV1, after both of us. With this new kart I was finally able to win! That was when I finally saw how much of a jerk I have been to her, that is when we finally became friends. I can never think her enough."

Ralph smiled insightfully as he said, "Sounds like you're more than just friends with her, like you _like_ her; Like how Felix likes Calhoun."

"What? No! It's not like that!" Rancis objected, blushing, "We're just friends, okay!?"

"Okay okay, I get it!" Ralph said chuckling, "Cool your engine, okay?"

As they came up to opening that looks like it opened up into another cavern, Ralph peeked around the edge and finally found what they were looking for.

"Vanellope!" Ralph yelled as he and Rancis ran into the chamber.

"Ralph! And Rancis? What are you doing here?" Vanellope said as she saw them.

"I'm here to rescue you!" Rancis said, then stammered as he corrected himself, "I mean we're here to rescue you!"

After stare at Rancis strangely for a moment, Vanellope he looked at Ralph and said, "I'm glad you guys are here! Turbo..."

"... Wants to get the plug pulled on Sugar Rush by making sure one of its racers, you, is not able to be chosen by the player," Ralph finished, "we kind of figured that out on the way."

"He wants to make sure that you guys are deleted too!" Vanellope said with tears in her eyes, "Turbo figured you guys would look for me, but wouldn't find me until Litwak had already marked the game out of order and pulled the plug!"

"Then we should be thankful that Turbo is not nearly as clever as he thinks is!" Rancis said smiling, "Okay big guy, do your thing!"

"Wait," Ralph said as he took out the communicator, "We should let others know first!" He then pressed the signal button.

* * *

"One last time," Calhoun said with the barrel of her gun touching Turbo-Bug's nose, "What have you done with Vanellope?"

"That's a good question!" Turbo-Bug said with a chuckle, "I swear, I would lose my head if it wasn't attached!"

"You still might exhibition point" Calhoun said menacingly, "You know, Felix, I think these walls are looking a little drab. Perhaps they could use a fresh coat of King Candy!"

"Do you think your threats scare me?" Turbo-Bug said with a smile, then scowled as he continued, "You guys ruined my Life! If it wasn't for your do-gooder boyfriend and his muscle-bound idiot of a friend, I would still be ruling this kingdom!"

"Felix is my husband, not my boyfriend!" Calhoun growled. Then when Calhoun's communicator started beeping, she smiled and said, "And it looks like Ralph is not so much of a 'muscle-bound idiot'! He just found Vanellope, which means that you lose!"

"No!" Turbo-Bug said in disbelief, backing away, "I won't let you guys ruin my plans again!"

"And who says you have any choice in the matter?" Calhoun said with a smirk as she leveled her plasma rifle on him.

"Why, just me and a few of my friends!" Turbo-Bug said with a smile. As he continued backing, hundreds of eyes started glowing in the dark, and Calhoun's detector started picking up a lot more bugs in the vicinity. Then, as the Cy-Bugs swarmed Felix And Calhoun, Calhoun started firing away with your rifle as she backed herself and Felix up, and Turbo-Bug disappeared down the side tunnel.

* * *

Vanellope covered her ears as Ralph hit the top of the cage again, making the spiderweb of cracks in the top even larger.

"Okay kid," Ralph said as he backed up for one more run, "one more should do it, then will get you out of here!"

"I don't think so!" Turbo-Bug said as he burst into the chamber. As Ralph and Rancis whirled in surprise, Rancis leveling his spear at the former leader, Turbo-Bug continued, "None of you are going anywhere!"

End Of Chapter


	6. 6) The Flight

**The Flight**

Back at Fix-it Felix Jr., the Nicelanders are starting to get rather nervous.

"Where are Ralph and Felix? They should have been back log ago, and the Arcade is about to open!" Roy said nervously.

"Maybe it was a mistake to trust Ralph," Gene said with a scowl.

"Oh Gene, stop," Mary said with a nervousness she could barely hide, "I'm sure they're fine. After all, Ralph is with Felix. You know we can always count on him!"

Don piped in, adding, "And let's not forget Felix's wife Calhoun is with them too! You can always count on the military types for their punctuality!"

"But where are they?" Deanna said with nervous tension, "Vanellope's race should have ended a long time ago!"

As they are watching through the screen, troops from Hero's Duty arrive on the tram behind them. Kohut approaches the Nicelanders, saluting smartly as he stated, "I have a situation report from Sgt. Calhoun; Vanellope has been abducted by the Cy-Bug abomination Turbo."

The Nicelanders all gasp in fear. "Turbo?" Norwood said in surprise. "I thought that Ralph took care of him six months ago!" Lucy added fearfully.

"Apparently he's back. Calhoun and the others went after him, but she radioed the rest of us and told us prepare for the worst case scenario," Kohut stated.

"Which is?" Gene asked.

"Evacuation," Kohut said simply.

As the Nicelanders murmur fretfully, one of the other soldiers approach Kohut and whispered In his ear, Kohut then says to the Nicelanders, "We need to go and cover for the Sargent in case she doesn't get back before the arcade opens, but you folks should get ready to move on a moment's notice."

As the troops returned to the tram, Gene said with concern, "I know I said some things about Ralph's trustworthiness, I'd rather have him over Turbo any day! I just hope he and Felix are okay!"

* * *

Over in Sugar Rush, Felix and Calhoun are running full tilt through the tunnels with a swarm of cy–bugs snarling on their heels. As they run Calhoun detaches a number of disk shape objects from her belt and throws them against the Opposite walls, where they stick and start beeping. The beeping quickly rises In speed and pitch until they all detonate in rapid-fire sequence, resulting in a huge explosion that engulfs and consumes a large portion of the pursuing swarm.

"I guess that we're done worrying about causing cave-ins?" Felix said breathlessly while they ran.

Calhoun, who's not as winded due to her physical training, replies, "Right now, I'm more focused on a) keeping those Cy-Bugs back there from eating us, and b) stopping those things from stopping us from getting to Vanellope before Turbo-Bug can do anything bad to her!"

Looking over his shoulder, Felix called out, "Then I hope you have more of those things, because here they come again!"

Behind them, the cy-bugs that weren't caught in the explosion hesitate at the edge of the scorched tunnel for a second, then they snarl and surge once more after the couple.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Litwak's Arcade, the random roster racers watch in trepidation as Mr. Litwak opens his doors to a surge of delighted kids, including one girl with blue eyes, blond hair, pink shirt and braces.

"Oh no! It's Moppet Girl!" Snowanna cried out in dismay.

"Who?" Pamelapop asked.

"Moppet Girl," Taffeta explained, "She comes in here all the time…"

"Her name's Holley," interrupted Crumbelina, "Not 'Moppet Girl'!"

"Holley, Moppet Girl, whatever!" Taffeta said agitatedly, "The point is that she always chooses Venelope! Always!"

As the racers watch her approach the cabinet with a growing sense of doom, suddenly a pair of rowdy boys rush past her and take both open seats of the cabinet. Inserting the quarters into the slots, one boy turns and laughs at her, saying, "Sorry, Moppet Girl! You're too slow!"

The racers breathe a sight of relief as Holley grunts in agitation, then watch in dismay as she turns her attention to the Fix-it Felix, Jr. cabinet.

"Oh no! Those poor Nicelanders!" Zaki said dishearteningly, "Ralph and Felix are not back yet! When she goes to play and they don't show, their game will get marked out-of-order for sure!"

* * *

Back at Fix-it Felix, Jr., a soldier from Hero's Duty who'd remained behind to evacuate Q*Bert and his friends now is standing at the back of the apartment, out of sight of Holley, and gesturing for the Nicelanders who'd entered the building at the game's start to continue out the back door.

"But shouldn't we stick with the program?" Gene asked him in concern.

As the others continued to file past him, the soldier replied, "Without Ralph and Felix, there is no 'program', and if you guys freak out again like you did the last time Ralph disappeared, then your plug will get pulled for sure. It's best if Holley and Mr. Litwak think that the game merely froze or something of that order, something that will sort itself out."

As Gene starts to ask something else, he is interrupted by a beeping from the soldier's communicator. Thumbing the talk button, the soldier says, "Striker here."

Calhoun's voice, punctuated by the sounds of bursts from her plasma rifle, muffled explosions and the screeches of Cy-Bugs, is heard saying, "Striker, what's your status?"

Striker, who recognized the sounds of trouble, summarized quickly, "I've completed evacuation of the new residents here and was in the process of doing the same for the Nicelanders."

"Do so quickly, then double-time to Hero's Duty!" ordered Calhoun, "Inform Kohut that code 0704 is in effect!"

Striker could barely comprehend what he was hearing. He asked in concern, "Sir, are you sure?"

"Does it sound like I'm throwing a party here!?" Calhoun yelled, and admittedly it did not. She continued, "We have a situation here, and some of these residents cannot be evacuated! You know what our duty entails, now do yours! That's an order!"

"Yes sir!" Striker said as he saluted smartly, despite the fact that she could not see, then he turned to Gene and the others and said, "You heard the lady, now let's move! Stay in the building's shadow and head for the tram! Go, go, go!"

As the Nicelanders hurried to the tram with barely controlled fear, Striker thought about Calhoun's order. Code 0407 was only to be used in the most extreme of situations, especially so if the arcade was open because it could potentially mean the death of their own game! But if the situation at Sugar Rush was severe enough that his Sargent would issue it, then he won't be the one to countermand it behind her back.

* * *

Back in Sugar Rush, a David Vs. Goliath style standoff is taking place between Rancis and his former ruler-turned-malevolent virus, with Ralph torn between whether he should help Rancis or Vanellope first.

"Just what do you think you're going to do with that, Rancis?" Turbo-Bug said with a small chuckle.

"Take one step closer, and you'll find out!" Rancis replied as he kept his spear leveled at Turbo-Bug, then he told Ralph over his shoulder, "You finish getting Vanellope out! I'll handle the bug!"

"Do that, Ralph," Turbo-Bug warned, "and I eat this kid first!"

"Why?" Rancis asked uncomprehendingly, "Why are you doing this?"

"Ask them!" Turbo-Bug replied, gesturing at Ralph and Vanellope, "They're the ones who ruined my life! I was happy! All of you were happy! Then those two took all that away! It's because of them that I became _this!_"

Rancis, refusing to be swayed, retorted, "You ruined _Vanellope's_ life! You took our memories, took her life away from her! You took….things that you had no right to take! If anyone deserves revenge around here, it's her!"

"Let's agree to disagree," Turbo-Bug said, "Truth is that I don't have to lay one hand on you to succeed. All I have to do is keep you here: You see, the Arcade's now been open for a while! I'm actually surprised that you haven't been called to the starting line yet. Don't you have any fans?"

Refusing to be baited, Rancis replied, "A few."

"Anyway, it's only a matter of time before someone chooses the little princess, and when she doesn't show the game's plug will be pulled and she'll go down with the ship!" Turbo-Bug continued with glee, "Of course, you guys don't have to stay and die along with her, that choice is entirely up to you!"

* * *

Back in Litwak's arcade, a couple of teenage boys are playing Hero's Duty when Striker, whom they had not seen all campaign approached acting-commander Kohut (who, for some reason, had taken Calhoun's place) and said to him, "Sir, a message from Calhoun: Code 0704 is in effect!"

"What!" Kohut said in astonishment, "Is this confirmed?"

"Confirmed sir!" Striker replied.

Kohut cursed under his breath then turned towards the players and said, "Sorry kids, hope you don't take this personally because it was an honor to serve with you. I hope that we may serve together again one day." Then he aimed his plasma rifle at each of them in turn and fired, resulting in their screens going blank and a **Game Over** message appearing on them.

"What the…!?" one boy yelled as the other called out, "Mr. Litwak?"

* * *

Inside Hero's Duty, the Game over message is followed by the beacon activating and the remaining Cy-Bugs are drawn into it. As the regenerating soldiers get to their feet, Markowski approaches Kohut and asks, "Are we really going to do this, sir?"

"We have no choice son," Kohut replied, "If code 0704 has been intoned, then it means that the Arcade is being jeopardized by a Cy-Bug infestation, and it's our duty to protect it and everyone who lives here. To do otherwise would result in the Arcade being closed permanently due to Mr. Litwak being unable to afford replacing all the games that'll be ruined. Preventing that trumps all other concerns, even that of our own game."

"Take the first-person shooters with you, then seal the ship's entrance," Kohut continued, "Then once they've finished regenerating, booby trap our tunnel behind you as you bring them to Sugar Rush. Hopefully we'll get the Out of Order sign right away, but if they to start again we can't risk more Cy-Bugs escaping from our own game."

Markowski responded with a salute, then Kohut turns and heads for the ship as Markowski gathers the FPS avatars, whose 'screens' are still in the process of regenerating.

* * *

Back at the Arcade, the boys at the Sugar Rush cabinets are listening with smirks as Mr. Litwak places out-of-order signs on the Hero's Duty cabinet and muttering, "What is going on today?"

One of the boys who'd cut in front of Holley snickered and said, "Man, those shooter games break so easily!"

The other boy laughs stupidly and says simply, "Yeah!"

They are having so much fun laughing at Mr. Litwak's troubles that they end up not paying attention and wind up driving into the Taffy Swamp and the Nesquicksand Ravine respectively. By the time their Karts are reset on the track, they've dropped into 8th and 10th place and each receive a message on their screens saying, **You Lose. Game Over.**

"Aw man!" the second boy complained, "I'm broke, you got anything left Claude?"

"Only the lunch money Mom left me," Claude replied, "You want to go get a bite to eat, Sykes?"

"Sure!" Sykes agreed, "Let's blow this dump!"

As the rude kids leave the Arcade, Holley, who had been unable to find a game she wanted to play since Fix-it Felix, Jr. was marked out-of-order, rushed over to one of Sugar Rush's vacated seats and started plugging her money in.

* * *

As they see Holley enter the character select screen, Taffeta turns to the others who are watching in dismay and says solemnly, "Well, guys, this is it."

Crumbelina reaches over and grabs the hands of those positioned closest to her as she says with a sad smile, "It's been fun racing with you guys."

As Holley highlights Vanellope's avatar and is about to hit the start button to lock in her selection, a voice behind her cries out "Wait!"

When Holly turns, a boy with tousled brown hair, a rust-colored jacket and a buck-toothed grin takes the other vacant seat and asks, "Do you mind if I join you?"

Holly, who didn't know what to make of this, said, "Sure! Why not?"

The boy then inserted his money, selected Join game in progress, then Team Race, which caused the invitation to appear on Holley's screen and the selection countdown to pause.

"You….you want to race as a team?" Holley stammered, "With me?"

"Sure!" The boy agreed, "Competing with others is fun, but I like teaming up with others to beat the computer much better!" As Holley smiled and hit the start button to accept the invitation, the boy reached over and shook her hand, saying, "My name is Tony Matherson, 'though my friends call me Mater!"

"My name's Holley Stillwell," Holley introduced herself, blushing slightly, "but everyone just calls me Moppet Girl."

"Holley," Mater remarks with a goofy grin, "what a pretty name!"

"Thanks!" Holley says shyly, blushing even fiercer. Then Mater highlights and locks in his choice of Rancis Fluggerbutter as Holley does the same for Vanellope von Schweetz.

* * *

Back in the underground cavern in Sugar Rush, selection portals appear above both Vanellope's cage and Rancis, and Rancis is teleported away crying "Nooo!" leaving only his spear behind.

As Vanellope's portal fades away, having been unable to transport her out of her cage, Turbo-Bug crows, "Ha! I win!"

"_No!_" Ralph yells as he turns and smashes Vanellope's cage to pieces. As he manages to wrench her collar off, Turbo-Bug grabs him, slams him to the ground then begins to throttle him.

"Ralph!" Vanellope cries out as she lunges for his hand, then she glitches him out of Turbo-Bug's grasp and through the cavern's ceiling towards the surface.

"No!" snarls Turbo-Bug, "You can't get away from me!" Then he quickly tunnels after them.

* * *

Back at the Arcade, Holley and Mater see Rancis appear in his Kart, but Vanellope's Kart shows up without a driver. As they watch, Rancis hops out of his Kart as the others take off around them and he calls out "Vanellope!"

"What's going on?" Mater asks as Holley calls out, "Uh, Mr. Litwak?"

As Mr. Litwak sighs and heads over to the kids, Vanellope glitches beside her Kart and hops in as she calls out, "What are you doing, Rancis? We need to get out of here!" Then Rancis hops in his Kart and the two take off together.

As Mr. Litwak comes up beside the two kids, he asks them with a sigh, "Is your game broken too?"

Although clearly confused by all that's happened, Holley answers, "Uh, no, I guess not. Just a lag, I suppose."

Mr. Litwak smiles and sighs with relief, but stays to watch the kids play. Then all three of them are startled buy the sound of a loud rumbling crash emanating from the game's speakers.

"What was that!?" Holley asked fretfully.

* * *

As Ralph watches Rancis and Vanellope take off from where she'd deposited him high upon the bleachers, Turbo-Bug smashed his way out from beside the track and started swiftly pursuing the fleeing racers. Ralph's communicator then went off and Calhoun's voice asked, "Ralph, what's your status?"

Figuring out how to work it, Ralph replied, "I got Vanellope out and she got me to the surface. She and Rancis got a late start in the race, but now Turbo-Bug is chasing after them."

Calhoun grunted then continued, "We'll be up there soon, and I have my men on their way there now. Keep the civilians safe until we arrive, then we're going to put an end to that menace once and for all!"

* * *

As Rancis and Vanellope come up to the first row of power-ups, Rancis calls out, "Vanellope, glitch past those power-ups!"

""What!?" Vanellope calls out in disbelief.

"Just do it! Okay?" Rancis insisted.

Knowing they had no time to argue, Vanellope does as Rancis requests and bypasses the power-ups, leaving Rancis the only one to collect one. As the announcer intones, "Sweet Seekers!" Rancis drifts behind Vanellope and says, "I have your six!" Then Rancis enters a flat spin as he shifts into reverse, leaving him and Vanellope driving back-to-back, his newly acquired weapon aimed straight at the pursuing nightmare.

* * *

When Mater saw that his character spinning around, the first question that came to his mind was 'What happened?", but when he saw what was behind them, the shock drove all questions from his mind: The monster was bigger and scarier than _anything_ he'd seen in anything his parents ever let him play, and yet there was something familiar about it too.

By the time he recognized where he'd seen the face from, he heard his character Rancis say, "Hey, King: 'Have some candy!' " Rancis then unleashed his entire arsenal of Sweet Seeker shots into the monster's face, who growled in pain as he stumbled back, then he redoubled his efforts to catch them.

Holley, who looked over at Mater's screen to see what's going on, let out a shriek of terror and nearly lost control of her Kart, then asked Mater, "What is that thing?"

Mater, who was equally terrified and fascinated, answered, "I think it used to be King Candy!"

Even Mr. Litawk was taken aback. When he watched the monster's face glitch and, just for a moment, look much like that of Turbo, Mr. Litwak said dully, "I think I'll go and get those out-of-order signs now." As he turned and walked away, Litwak looked very much like he was thinking, _What on Earth did I do to deserve having that poltergeist come and ruin my Arcade?_

"How are you doing this?" Holley asks.

"I don't know!" Mater admitted, "I've always been good at driving backwards in these things, but never this good! All I know is that this is the most intense game of Sugar Rush I've played in my life!

* * *

Back in the game, Rancis had collected another power-up and fired his Ice-Cream Cannon at Turbo-Bug, which temporarily trapped him in a giant scoop of ice cream as the announcer said, "Oooh, a la mode!" Then, as Turbo-Bug broke free, Vanellope spotted another power-up and announced, "Here comes another one!" as she glitched past it to allow Rancis to collect it, accompanied by the announcement, "Ouch! Pop-rocks Slick!" Rancis then spun back around so that he was driving forwards and released his load of Pop-rocks, which spun out across the track like ball bearings. As Turbo-bug stepped on the slick, he either slipped on the rocks, or they exploded under his feet which upset his footing even further.

As they reached the spiral Birthday Cake Mountain, Vanellope spotted Taffeta ahead of her, who was accompanied today by Snowanna and….

"Candlehead!" Vanellope called out.

Turning her head, Candlehead's face lit up as she called back, "Vanellope! You're okayyyy_yyyieeek!_" her greeting interrupted by a shriek of fear as she spotted Turbo-Bug behind them again, having cleared the slick and once again in hot pursuit.

"Candlehead! Light them up!" Vanellope called out.

"What!?" Candlehead replied in disbelief.

"Light! Them! Up!" Vanellope enunciated.

Candlehead turned back towards Taffyta, who nodded seriously as she said, "You heard our Princess! Do it!"

Candlehead then drifted closer to the edge of the track so that the flames from her exhaust could ignite the stems of the cherries lining it, the stems burning down like fuses as the announcer said, "What's this? Cherry Bombs!"

As the bombs exploded, Rancis and Vanellope were uncomfortably close, but Turbo-Bug was caught directly in the explosions. As he yelled and complained, Turbo-Bug was driven further and further back by the pain and the concussive force of the sequential explosions.

After Taffeta and her group cleared the jump at the top, she said "Alright guys, about face!"

"Say what!?" Snowanna asked in disbelief.

As she spun her Kart around to face the other way, Taffeta explained, "It's time to take one for the team!"

Following Taffeta's lead, Candlehead and Snowanna turned around and jumped back the other way, passing Vanellope and Rancis on a lower trajectory and catching Turbo-Bug low as he tried to follow, spoiling his jump and causing him to land in the cupcake field below with the trio. As Turbo-Bug got back up and climbed up the cliff wall after Vanellope, he called back to them, "I'll deal with you three later!"

* * *

Back at the Arcade, Mr. Litwak had two out-of-order signs taped and ready to apply, but found himself impeded from approaching the Sugar Rush Speedway cabinets: A large crowd had gathered around the machines to watch the excitement unfold, including the guys who were playing Hero's Duty earlier and the jerks who had cut in front of Holly.

"Do you know what's going on here?"  
"No! I've never seen anything like this before!"  
"This game is officially off the hook!"  
"Hey! How'd a couple of twerps like you two manage to find such a sick mode like this?" Sykes says both condescendingly and with a sense of awe.

Neither Mater nor Holley pay anyone any mind, as they're both too focused on the game in front of them.

"Do you think that we lost it?" Holley asked Mater.

Mater checked his rear view display as he said, "I don't think….No! Look out! He's jumping!"

They see Turbo-Bug land on top of the sign marking the finish line, crushing it. The racers who haven't yet crossed the finish line swerve and crash into the stands in their panic, while Crumbelina and Pixie (who took first and second) abandon their carts and run for their lives.

Vanellope swerves and slows to a stop then watches in shock as Rancis continues straight instead, accelerating to ramming speed. The massive Turbo-bug has no problems however swatting Rancis and his speeding Kart back the other way, trapping an unconscious Rancis under his ruined machine near Vanellope.

"Rancis!" Vanellope cries out in dismay as she hops out of her machine to run towards him. She is stopped short as Turbo-Bug charges towards her saying, "And now for you, you little…"

Turbo-Bug is cut off as he is peppered by a hail of gunfire. The watching crowd of gamers gasps then cheers as they see the soldiers from Hero's Duty charge around and over the stands, led by Sgt. Calhoun who cries out, "That's it, boys! Light him up!"

"Hey," cries one of the boys whose game was interrupted earlier by Kohut, "that's where those guys went!"

The other boy looks back at the Hero's Duty cabinet and see the same scene displayed through the viewpoint of the FPS avatars, then says to his friend, "Looks like the machine's back online! Come on, Oliver! Let's give those guys a hand!"

"Yeah!" Oliver agrees enthusiastically. Then the duo, followed by a small knot of onlookers, rip off the out-of-order signs, pick up the rifle accessories and join in.

* * *

Back in Sugar Rush, the two FPS avatars, who were brought in by Markowski offline moments ago, became active and displayed the faces of the two boys as the bots hefted their weapons and joined in the firefight.

Pinned down by the pressure of the combined firepower, Turbo-Bug let loose an echoing screeching yell that was followed shortly by swarms of Cy-Bugs exploding from the ground in several places. The soldiers, now finding themselves ridiculously outnumbered, switch from focusing their aim on Turbo-Bug to the Cy-Bugs now surrounding them.

"Hey Paxton! Hurry up and get that Portable Beacon set up, will you?" Striker hollers over his shoulder.

"Hey! This thing is extremely delicate and highly experimental, I'm doing the best that I can!" Paxton retorts, "I'd be able to work much faster if someone can keep these bugs off my back!"

"Striker, Hicks, rookies….give him some breathing room!" Calhoun orders, "Kohut, Ralph, Felix, with me!"

"Yes sir!" Everyone chants, including the boys controlling the FPS avatars who follow Striker and Hicks to where Paxton is working while the others race over to confront Turbo-Bug, who took advantage of the divided attention to begin menacing Venelope again.

* * *

As Turbo-Bug stalked towards her, Vanellope struggled to get Rancis' ruined kart off of him, promising herself that if they both lived through this she'd get him the best kart her power and influence can buy!

As Turbo-Bug gets close enough to grab her, he's struck from behind by one of the stands lining the track. As he turns angrily, he sees Ralph pick up another of the abandoned stands and hurl it at him. Turbo-Bug swats it out of the way then counters by hurling a jawbreaker imbedded by the side of the road at Ralph, who stopped it in mid-air with his fist, causing it to fall to the ground in two pieces. Turbo-Bug then grabbed one of his Cy-bugs out of the air and threw it at Ralph, and though he was able to catch it, Ralph now had to struggle to keep it from eating him.

Then Turbo-Bug was peppered with shots from Kohut's and Calhoun's rifles. Annoyed, Turbo-Bug picked up the remains of Rancis' cart and first used it as a bat to knock Kohut away, then threw it at Calhoun, causing her to be knocked back several yards and trapping her underneath it.

"Calhoun!" Vanellope cries as she tries to glitch over to her, but Turbo-Bug grabs her as she materialized the first time and says, "That's enough glitching out of you!" Then he takes his glowing orb and slams it into her back.

As soon as it makes contact, a series of images floods her mind; the day her parents, the good King and Queen of Sugar Rush got her her first kart, how they would push her around in it while she steered, the day they gave her permission to join the roster as an official racer, the day Turbo showed up looking half dead from his close call at RoadBlasters, how she'd nursed him back to health; then finally the fateful day when she'd showed him to the secret chamber where she'd modify his code so that he could be an official racer in the game, and he'd repaid her trust by betraying her and locking himself in and her out.

"You…" Vanellope sobbed, "…you deleted my parents, you tried to delete me! I trusted you, tried to help you, and you tried to kill me!"

"Yes, well it turned out your code was tougher to crack than I'd anticipated," Turbo-Bug said unapologetically, "I guess the programmers didn't want their 'star attraction' to be accidentally overwritten during the numerous revisions and additions to the programming. As for your parents, I knew that they wouldn't understand that I needed you out of the way if I was going to be the star, so they had to go. And now, my dear, so do you!"

As Turbo-Bug started to lift Vanellope towards his fanged mouth, he saw Felix out of the corner of his eye glaring at him, looking angrier than he'd ever been before in his life, gripping his hammer so tightly his knuckles were white. "And what are you going to do with that hammer, little man?" Turbo-Bug said mockingly, "You going to 'fix' me?"

"Not….exactly," Felix growled, then he twisted the hammer in his grip so that the claw end was pointed forward.

With a dawning of inexplicable fear in his eyes, Turbo-Bug stammered, "W-W-What are you going to do!?"

" 'Sometimes to fix something, you must first take it apart.' " Felix quoted, then he charged.

With true terror explicit on his face, Turbo-Bug yelled, "Get him!" and a swarm of Cy-Bugs responded to his command. To Felix, however, they were even easier to deal with than the ducks from his own game. Using his own incredible jumping ability, he was able to dodge their snapping mouths and use their heads just like the windowsills at Niceland Apartments. Finally, when he was over Turbo-Bug, Felix dive-bombed him with a war-cry and struck Turbo-Bug in the head with the hammer's claw.

With a cry of "Nooooo!", a flash of light engulfed Turbo-Bug. When it cleared, standing in his place was King Candy and the Cy-Bug who ate him, but Felix wasn't done. As he struck the Cy-bug over and over, with King Candy curled up on himself and watching fearfully, various objects were dislodged from the virus as it reverted to earlier and earlier versions of itself: The Kart that King Candy stole from Venelope, the various candy roots that it consumed, and so on.

Finally, as a ghostly image of Ralph's foot floated up and dissipated, the Cy-Bug reverted to its original egg form. Before the Cy-Bugs could get over their shock at what happened, the Portable Beacon was activated and all the Cy-Bugs were drawn into it, never to be seen again.

"Well I must say, short stack, I'm extremely impressed!" Calhoun said approaching behind him.

Felix spun with surprised delight and saw her coming towards him, using a piece of Rancis' Kart as a crutch. "Honey-glow! You're okay!" Felix exclaimed.

Calhoun smiled wryly as she said, "Yeah, well this armor isn't just for show, babycakes!"

As Ralph approached them and dusted himself off, and Vanellope kneeled down to cradle Rancis' head in her lap, Felix carefully picked up the Cy-Bug egg in his cap and handed it over to Calhoun, asking, "What should we do with this?"

With a huge smile, she handed it over to Ralph, then yelled, "Pull!"

As Ralph threw it into the air, Calhoun aimed her sidearm and vaporized the egg in mid-air without even singeing the brim of Felix's cap. "We have thousands of those things back home," Calhoun said grinning, "Nobody is going to miss one less."

At that moment, Rancis groaned and his eyes fluttered open. "Rancis!" Vanellope squealed in joy as she lifted him up and wrapped him up in a huge hug which had him complaining, "Ow ow ow ow ow!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Vanellope said apologetically, backing off slightly as she continued, "I'm just so glad that you're alive, that's all!" Then, when she saw Felix, Ralph, her fellow racers, and everyone else looking at her with smug grins, she then tried her best to sound angry as she stammered, "B-B-B-Because I wouldn't want you to die before I had a chance to tell you off, Rancis Fluggerbutter! You threw that Roster Race for me! You never, ever, ever, ever throw a race like that again! You hear me!? I race fair and square, and I want to win that way too or not at all, you got that!?"

"Okay, okay!" Rancis replied, grinning sheepishly.

"And another thing…" As Vanellope continues her tirade, Felix approaches King Candy, who'd been trying to sneak away on his hands and knees and now was cowering curled into a little ball. "Now as for you Turbo…" Felix said as he tapped Candy in the head with his hammer's claw, reverting him to his original Turbo form, "…what should we do with you?"

Though at first Turbo was trembling at the sight of Felix's hammer, he then looked up and got a triumphant smile on his face as he said smugly, "It doesn't matter what you do to me now, because I've already won!"

Looking up at the displays that show the player-controlled racers, Felix and the others saw what Turbo was referring to. The display that showed Rancis' side flickered in and out due to the damage done to his cart, but they were able to see an out-of-order sign attached to the player's side. However, they also saw what Turbo apparently didn't: though he was close enough to do so, he had not yet placed the sign on Vanellope's side. He was hesitating, being barraged by the pleas of the gamers surrounding him.

"Please, please, please don't, Mr. Litwak!"  
"That was totally amazing!"  
"I've seen action movies that weren't half as exciting!"  
"How did you access that secret mode, Moppet gi….I mean Holley?"

Then Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun shared a cunning smile.

* * *

"That was when we came up with the idea that would guide us for the months to come!"

Ralph was sitting in his latest meeting of Bad-Anon, telling the story of his latest adventures to the others in attendance, including newcomers Mario, Wario, Cranky Kong, King K Rool, Giovanni, and Gannondorf.

"After repairing Rancis' cart so that they could cross the finish line and reset the game to repair the damage that the latest Cy-Bug attack had done," Ralph continued, "We took Turbo off to convince him to explain to us how he'd modified the game to insert himself into it. Well, actually Felix and Calhoun did most of the 'convincing', and while I personally thought that Calhoun was the more intimidating, I'm pretty sure that Turbo was more frightened of Felix's hammer. Then we consulted extensively with the girls over at DDR, who are well familiar with 'add on content', and with the guys at both Area 51 and Cruisin' USA, who know all about hidden modes and characters."

"With that knowledge in hand, we set to work on recreating the scenario in Sugar Rush as a hidden mode called, 'Turbo-Bug attacks!' " Ralph continues his narrative, "Now I know what you're all thinking. 'Turbo nearly killed you and your friends, and you made it possible for him to continue to try and do so!?' But that's the thing: In this scenario, he literally can't! If the player manages to find the weekly randomly generated sequence to activate the scenario, then Turbo only is modified into his bug form during the course of the scenario, and he always reverts and is placed back in his cage once the scenario is done, either by the player winning or failing it. And since everyone who participates is programmed into it, anyone who may lose a life, including the soldiers who are called over or yours truly, would regenerate. All the players love it, even the ones playing Hero's Duty. I think that they love killing bugs more in that scenario than they do in the regular game: I guess having somebody to protect makes it more exciting than fighting on a dead planet."

"Of course, we couldn't let the Sugar Rash players control all the fun," Ralph added, "We added a hidden scenario into Hero's Duty as well, where Calhoun's husband Felix is grabbed by a Cy-Bug and it's up to me, Vanellope, and the player to rescue Felix before the Cy-Bugs overcome his erected barricades and eat him. As for what happens in our games while we're away on these side trips, we've made it so our game either pauses or, in Vanellope's case, she's unavailable as a selectable character, and a message appears on screen stating we'd be back soon. Of course the players don't seem to mind waiting: They're just as entertained watching these particular events. I was even asked to appear in a few other games as well, and while I love being a hidden playable character in Street Fighter II, I politely declined on appearing in Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct."

"Of course, even though she was programmed back with abilities similar to those she had back when she was a glitch, Vanellope spends most of her non-racing time with the three of us, and she insists on visiting a new game every night. Also as predicted, Felix and Calhoun adopted her and named me her godfather. What little downtime she doesn't spend with us she says she's training Rancis to handle her old royal cart, which they renamed the RV2 (although she gets real defensive whenever Felix, Calhoun or myself refer to it as 'Date Night')."

"I tell you guys, our arcade has never been more popular!" Ralph proudly announces, "People come from all over the world just to visit this little corner of nowhere. The new scenarios are so popular, and the demand is so high for them, that even the developers of the home console versions of the games came here to experience it and determine how they could be made into….I think it's called 'downloadable content'? And get this: While they were here, I even heard them talk about making a retro-style sequel to Fix-it Felix, Jr. staring me as a hero! Can you believe that? You totally called that one, Mario! Thankfully, they didn't go an make Felix a villain or anything: this would be a co-op adventure were players could use my strength to bash enemies or destroy structures, or they can use Felix's abilities to take things apart and put them back together! I've yet to see any playable versions of this game yet, but I did see a few spoiler episodes on You Tube."

"But even if the game does make it into homes and arcades, even if players begin to always think of me as a hero, I'll never forget where I came from! I'll always be proud of my time as a bad guy!" Ralph finished to a loud chorus of applause.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, Turbo sits in his cage muttering, "They think they've beaten me, that I am tamed? But I will rise again! I will regain my former glory! And I will make those who dealt me my humiliation suffer and beg me to end their miserable existence!"

End of story


End file.
